Well. Hmm. From the perspective of a geezer:—

My interest in folk music developed with early exposure. This exposure started when I was in my early teens (that would have been in the early Forties) with a couple of radio programs and a movie. One was Burl Ives, talking about the history of the Erie Canal, during which he told stories and sang songs. At the same time, a local character, Ivar Haglund had a radio program, telling stories about the early days in the Puget Sound area—and singing songs, accompanying himself on the guitar (The Old Settler's Song, e.g., "Acres of Clams" was his theme song). In the late Forties, I saw a movie starring Susan Reed, about a young girl from the Appalachians dragged off to sing folk songs in a New York night club. Then along came The Weavers. I became actively interested (learning songs and learning to play the guitar) shortly after I started at the University of Washington in fall of 1949. During my sophomore year, I met some folk music enthusiasts: Claire Hess, Walt Robertson, Sandy Paton, Dick Landberg, Bob Crabtree, and a couple of others.

I was hardly a member of "the elite." My father was a health professional, so we were doing okay, but we were not what anyone could call rich. In the early Fifties, tuition at the U. of W. was $53.00 a quarter for Washington State residents. So going to an eastern, ivy league college had nothing to do with it, at least around here.

For me and many of my contemporaries, the Kingston Trio, Peter Paul and Mary, the Limeliters, et al had nothing to do with our avid interest in folk music. By the time they came along, I had heard a lot of Folkways records and field recordings and had dug around in a lot of books. When these "pop-folk" groups came along, we recognized what they did as (to repeat myself) "folk-lite" and tended to regard them as usurpers—kind of phony at best. Compared to what we were used to listening to on records, this bunch was slick and gutless. A lot of the genuine folk songs they sang were subjected to pop arrangements ("filtered and made mild"), and others, such as Green Fields, Scarlet Ribbons, They Call the Wind Mariah, Try to Remember, etc. etc.), good songs though they may have been, were not folk songs at all, even though a lot of people were led to believe they were (I've got a little insight into this; I knew a guy who wrote songs for the New Christy Minstrels).

Granted, many people developed an interest in folk music as a result of the Great Folk Scare. But at the same time, a lot of people got a pretty screwed up idea of what folk music really is. This becomes pretty evident (I should probably go put on my Kevlar underwear before saying this) when you read through a lot of Mudcat threads and compile a list of songs of what a lot of folks here seem to regard as folk songs.

O-o-o-o-oh boy!! I'm in trouble now!!

Don Firth